this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2026
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It's important to remember that these aren't average US citizens. These are only those wealthy enough to travel across the large country and take a vacation.
Some non-wealthy people live close enough to visit whenever though (source: I live in the suburbs of dc)
this is clearly not true. look at the picture!
Do...do most Americans never get to see their capital? Most people I know have been to the capital of my country at least once.
The USA is huge. IDK what country you're from, but I'll use France as a point of comparison because it's large and the capital isn't really in the center.
Bayonne->Paris is about the farthest you can be from the capital while still living in mainland France. That's 770 km.
This is shorter than the distance from Washington DC->Atlanta, which is in one of the original 13 colonies. It's pretty close to the distance from DC->Indianapolis, but that's still within the 1776 USA borders (albeit, an unorganized territory of the 13 colonies).
Add in the Louisiana purchase and various conquests westward, and a Californian visiting DC can be like visiting Paris from Kuwait.
It's reasonably common for USians to visit their state capital at some point in our lives, but visiting DC is definitely an upper-middle class vacation unless you happen to live in a nearby state already.
It's at least 3000 miles from the West Coast to the capital. Unless you're Russian, it's hard to compare
Canada. China. Point still stands ;)
It's several hundred dollars just to get there from the west coast. Many Americans do not have 800 dollars they can throw at a vacation.
Correct. Most can't travel to another state. We are more or less enslaved. Vacation doesn't exist. Housing isn't available. You'd be better off living in mexico, trust me.
Downside of the cost of living and size of the country. You actually are very lucky if you can travel.
If you have enough time taking the bus long distances is very affordable.
Time is money here in the states. I can't pay rent for an apartment full of my stuff if I'm traveling and not working. To go away for one week I need at least 2 weeks of pay saved up. I've had the privilege of traveling before and am saving for another time in the future but the fact I can save at all is because of a series of lucky breaks.
Also I have terrible credit so no one will ever give me a cc that isn't a horrible deal (400ish) and if something goes wrong and I'm stranded what then? I know I'm not alone in this.
seriously. i don't want to have to go knock the door of [church what done me and mine wrong] and beg for help. i know i can find folk in it who would, but like i worked in homelessness services and there are areas of the country where if you don't wear a cross and praise jesus you're fucked.
There are large areas of the US where simply taking a bus is impossible without also having to drive a long distance to the nearest station. There's also the fact that it's a pretty sizable country, so someone in SoCal or thereabouts is looking at a multi-day trip if they're not flying, which then adds the cost of hotels, cabs to/from the hotel if the stop has no transit nearby, etc.
I'm from a bigger country than America.
rephrase: downside of living in a big, only partially modernized country
me too!
Ive been there only once and I live only like 4 hours away. Most people of they arent in the area around Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey or new york USUALLY never visit. The further you are away the less likely you are to travel there. Usually DC is a day trip for those that live close, otherwise you then have to add plane tickets and hotels to your trip and that becomes prohibitively expensive for many Americans.
I'm in TX. For me, it would be 21 hours of driving assuming no traffic or stops. Given gas prices, it would be cheaper to fly. And given the price of flights, if I'm splurging on plane tickets, I'm probably going somewhere pleasant to be so I can ease my poor mind from the constant flood of cortisol that is modern life—DC is a place that will bring only resentment and misery.
I can't justify the gas cost to drive as far as my state capital, let alone travel all the way across the country to Washington DC. Not that I could even fly there since I'm not willing/able to get the fancy ID needed to get on a plane and leave my state.
I can't speak for "most Americans", my income is pretty median but I highly value travel and tourism so I make it happen from time to time. If you like parks and museums there is a shit-ton to do in and around DC, and it doesn't have to be any more expensive nor unsafe than visiting any other urban cultural center like NYC or Miami.
I had time to visit two museums while i was there: the Air and Space Museum (which was surprisingly dissappointing. OMSI up in Portland, Oregon had had most of the same exhibits and presented them in a more dynamic manner, but the Smithsonian was definitely still worth the time) and the National Art Gallery (I liked the sculpture garden and the impressionist exhibit they had the most. If you don't know what to do in an art museum, pick your favorite piece of art in every room. then figure out why it's your favorite. it's a really fun game). I would love two weeks of free time to explore DC but like, life.
i live on the west coast. I've been once for work. i can't afford to go for fun.
depending on where you live. I live in Florida and most people have visited
I've been to DC once, long ago. It was a shithole
if you live on the West Coast sure, but it's not that far a drive for a lot of people in the south
(you know how everyone talks about the photos of pre-islamic-revolution iran? i was doing the thing)